Below is an example of a Literature Review. Note that an Annotated Bibliography

Below is an example of a Literature Review. Note that an Annotated Bibliography and a Literature Review are different and have different purposes. Student Name Instructor Name Class Date Literature Review (Instructions on next page) Introduction: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Egestas erat imperdiet sed euismod nisi. Nunc vel risus commodo viverra maecenas. Parturient montes nascetur ridiculus mus mauris vitae ultricies. Tempor nec feugiat nisl pretium. Leo vel orci porta non pulvinar neque. Sed elementum tempus egestas sed sed risus. Orci eu lobortis elementum nibh tellus molestie nunc non. Mattis vulputate enim nulla aliquet porttitor lacus luctus accumsan. Cursus eget nunc scelerisque viverra. Risus pretium quam vulputate dignissim suspendisse. Body Paragraphs (3-5) Conclusion: Faucibus nisl tincidunt eget nullam non. Volutpat diam ut venenatis tellus in metus vulputate eu. Ut ornare lectus sit amet est. Nec ultrices dui sapien eget mi proin sed libero enim. Felis eget nunc lobortis mattis aliquam. Eleifend donec pretium vulputate sapien nec. Ut tellus elementum sagittis vitae et. Sit amet nisl suscipit adipiscing bibendum est ultricies integer. Enim ut sem viverra aliquet eget sit amet tellus. Velit dignissim sodales ut eu sem integer. Fringilla est ullamcorper eget nulla. Tortor id aliquet lectus proin nibh nisl condimentum id venenatis. Integer enim neque volutpat ac tincidunt vitae semper quis. Rhoncus mattis rhoncus urna neque. Curabitur gravida arcu ac tortor dignissim convallis aenean et. Literature Review Instructions: Introduction: An introductory paragraph that explains what your working topic and thesis is A forecast of key topics or texts that will appear in the review Potentially, a description of how you found sources and how you analyzed them for inclusion and discussion in the review (more often found in published, standalone literature reviews than in lit review sections in an article or research paper) Body (3-5 pghs, most likely): Summarize and synthesize: Give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole Analyze and interpret: Don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole Critically Evaluate: Mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources Write in well-structured paragraphs: Use transition words and topic sentence to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts. Conclusion: Summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance Connect it back to your primary research question (you can use first person here as needed) Reference Page – Formatted How to determine which to use: often, the answer to this is dictated by your field or by your instructor/PI. However, you might be given a choice. Here are some thoughts about why you might choose one or the other: Use an annotated bibliography if you haven’t gone through your sources yet. It’s a great way to pull a general summary and to start planning how your sources will support your thesis; it also helps you to begin to see how you might break up your essay. Use a literature review if you’d like to work on how your sources connect, with the potential of putting those together. Remember that this gives you paragraphs that you might even pull parts of for your final essay: it has a conversation between your sources, which can be really useful if you’ve already become a bit more familiar with your sources and if you’d like to strengthen your ability to connect your sources. One is not preferred over the other. Don’t feel like one is easier/harder, better/worse: instead, consider that one might be more useful to you at this point in your writing than the other.